Big Lead Sports Bar


Bye Week Boredom

How do you write a Steelers recap on a week where they have no game? Well, we could talk about what they did (or will be doing). It looks like Fast Willie is on the cover of ESPN: The Mag. Big Ben got his numbered retired at The U (saturation coverage by Big Ben News). And Jeff Reed probably practiced for his gig at Wolfie's bar this Thursday. Other than that, no one got arrested, no one tried to auction their car, and no one made much of a blip on the radar. It was kind of boring.

So I guess we'll have to talk about the rest of the league. Unfortunately, they didn't give us much more to talk about. A few random thoughts...

--The most glaring observation from this week was the state of quarterbacking in the NFL, best illustrated in the Carolina-Arizona, Testaverde vs. Rattay showdown in the late game. Maybe this season will make teams reconsider the decision to have only 2 QBs on the roster.

--How long until Kordell gets the call to come back?

--The Jets-Eagles game was so big, ESPN dispatched Kermit the Frog to get the pulse of the teams' respective fans. You know, playing up the whole "not easy being green" angle, because both teams are awful. But it could've been worse. I'm shocked they didn't find this a fitting occasion to cram Mike Greenberg down our throats, especially considering his man-crush on Chad Pennington.

--Weren't the Rams the Greatest Show on Turf a few years ago? Now they're throwing out Gus Frerotte and Travis Minor and struggling to score 3 points on the Ravens. What a painful game to watch. Meanwhile, Baltimore remains the same team they've been for the entire Billick era: good defense, horrible offense. You can bring in McGahee, makes no difference. Their offensive skills erode when they put on those horrendous uniforms.

--The highlight of the game: Kyle Boller threw a 50-yard touchdown on one knee. If you didn't get that joke, click here.

--In a game featuring Randy Moss and Terrell Owens, the receiving star of the show was...Wes Welker. By the way, I'm not sure if any of you caught this, but Cris Collinsworth said on NBC that the 2007 Patriots might be the best team ever. Way to not get too caught up, C.C.

--Will the Patriots go undefeated? I don't know. Why don't we ask a hypothetical question over and over as if someone had an answer?

--For half of the 1st quarter, we had no announcer audio for the Chiefs-Bengals game, just crowd noise and the "whooshing" sound whenever graphics popped up. I don't know if it was an fantastic experiment or a technical malfunction, but a game without two babbling announcers was exquisite.

--Pet peeve: a team is getting destroyed and they're still showboating. If you're ever curious to this phenomenon, tune in to any Cincinnati Bengal game. Nice chemistry on that team, too. That Marvin Lewis is doing a tremendous job. I have a feeling that Carson Palmer has had enough Chad Johnson for 10 lifetimes.

--If we're discussing trash talk on a bad team, Joey Porter is the leader in the clubhouse.

--Scariest thing about the Patriots? Look at that division! Jets 1-5, Bills 1-4, Dolphins 0-6. It's a good thing they're not in the BCS, because their strength of schedule would be last in the nation.

--Where are the people who coined the phrase "Mangenius" last year?

--How do the Colts win the Super Bowl (beating New England in the process), open the season undefeated, and be perceived as less of a team than the Patriots?

--Yeah, the Duel in Dallas was great. That game meant as much as the 2004 regular season game where the Steelers destroyed the Patriots, ending their 21-game winning streak and running up 34 points behind a rookie QB. I'm still waiting to catch a glimpse of the Skirmish in Steeltown Trophy the Steelers won that day.

--Green Bay and Tampa Bay continue to prove that you win in the NFL with a quality rushing attack.

--I feel much worse about the Steelers losing to the Cardinals after the Fighting Whizzes lost to Vinny Testaverde.

--The Seattle Seahawks are unwatchable at this point. At least the game last night eliminated the "When will the Saints win one" storyline.

--Adrian Peterson runs for 224 yards and 3 TDs and he gets less carries than Chester Taylor. Apparently Brad Childress watched Dave Wannstedt's hit video series, How Not to Handle Stud Running Backs, before the game.

--Congrats to the Nittany Lions on their big win over Wisconsin. Maybe that will divert attention from the front page story on the PG about their embattled program.

Here's a troubling quote from that story, courtesy of Steve Garban, vice chairman of the university Board of Trustees:

"I think it concerns everyone, any time you have these incidents," he said. "But it's happening at a lot of colleges. I don't think we're unique. I don't think it's any trend. I don't think anything's changed in the program."

Good to know that Garban apparently subscribes to the "everybody else is doing it" theory of life. How about a "We're Penn State and we're not going to tolerate behavior like this" line?

--South Florida is #2 in the BCS. Never thought I'd write that line in my lifetime.

--Nice win by the Pens on Saturday night. Plenty of offense, a Sidney Crosby scrap, and a victory on Canadian ice. The "Fire Michel Therrien" cries die down for a night.

--There's no Steeler game next Sunday afternoon, either, as Denver gets their long-awaited rematch of the AFC Championship at Mile High. Try and find a constructive way to pass the time.


Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

Aha, PSU officials are using the same line that every Patriots fan I've met uses about "Spygate"... the old "Well everyone else does it too!" line.

But honestly, I'm not concerned... I just want Pitt to win another game before I die. How is South Florida, with a bunch of players nobody's ever heard of, ranked #2 and Wannstedt (he of the consecutive top recruiting classes) and his gang can't get a win?

And yeah, after watching the Arizona and Seattle games this week, I don't feel nearly as good about the Seattle beatdown of last week as I did a few days ago.

Also, is anyone but me noticing that the Pats are running up the scores in their games? Example: Last night they're up by two TDs with like 20 seconds left, and they bust their asses to score another TD and go up by 21 points.

I know the Steelers, and most other teams, are taking knees at that point.

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

Not making excuses for Arizona, but they did have Tim (bagger at Shop 'n Save last week) Rattay at quarterback. I think Leinart and Warner are much better options and played their tails off against the Steelers.

GMoney said...

I was at the Miami U game Saturday and Ben's ceremony was very well done. He signed a ton of autographs during the game. Just a class act.

Jay said...

geez, somebody is bitter about the Patriots being good.

Chris said...

Man, Fast Willie looks happy doesn't he??? The last time I smiled like that was when I found out Kim Kardashian was posing for Playboy.

Laser Rocket Arm said...

Dear Chad Pennington:

When MIKE FREAKING GREENBERG, your most devoted minion, says that you should be benched, you're screwed. If you want me, I'll be over here setting fire to your bobblehead.

I still love you though,

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

I'm not bitter about them being good.

They're an awesome team and they shouldn't have to run up the score like that. It's just not the right thing to do.

Someone is just using the old "hater" line on someone who's just pointing out the truth of the matter.

I'm sorry that in the world you can't dislike something someone does anymore without being labeled a hater. It's a cheap way out of responsibility by turning things back around on anyone who points out wrongdoing if you ask me.

The Colts are fucking awesome, they're not my team, and I'm not putting blame for anything on them. The Cowboys are good, and I legitimately hate them, but I'm not here accusing them of anything.

I'm just callin it like I see it bro. No haterism involved.

Adam said...

Musselman's column was pure garbage. Penn State's football program having a few underage drinkers and an SUSPECTED rapist is NOT Sunday front page material. Clearly a hitpiece from a JV newspaper that was to cheap to even send Ron Cook to Carolina to cover the Pens season opener.

I'm not denying PSU's problems at the moment, nor do I agree with the "everyone else is doing it" concept. We Are Penn State, and some of us still take pride our team being a model for college programs everywhere.

That is why Austin Scott is off the team. This is why Andrew Quarless, arguably our best TE, was suspended for the first 2 games, and why the latest underage drinkers should recevive an even steeper penalty. Am I saing this because those guys are nobodys? NO. If Evan Royster got caught, I'd expect swift justice from Joe.

That said, the PG presented a clearly bias piece against Penn State, because the sports dept. over there hates Joe Paterno, and will try to get as many people as possible buy into the "Joe is an old fart who can't win, and is bitter towards Pitt" crap, so that maybe these 50 + men can watch Penn State and Pitt play again like it was the good old days.

To them I say, live in the real world. Pitt isn't on Penn States level, nor should they expect to be treated like they are. Mark my words. 10 years after Joe is dead, Penn State will still want the 2 for one, so hopefully Ron, Bob, and all the other clowns at that newspaper can take THEIR grudge against the greatest football coach of all time to their graves.